The Thunder's Kevin Durant drives around the Clippers' Matt Barnes in the first half Tuesday night. ROSE PALMISANO, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

LOS ANGELES – There are hundreds of very good 3-point shooters in the world, and only a pocketful who can make such shots physically hurt.

Twice in Tuesday's fourth quarter against the Clippers, long rebounds came out to Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant, who waited until about :23 on the shot clock before he aimed and fired.

The first one rocketed off the square and through the hoop; the second popped the net hard, just the way Durant had designed.

Both were body shots that knocked the wind out of the Clippers' 74th consecutive home sellout crowd.

Durant's 5-for-6 shooting in the quarter, and particularly those two cymbal clashes, stopped Clippers rallies before they began and meant the Clippers would finally lose a game that Chris Paul missed.

The final was 109-97, the Clippers' second loss in two nights. Slight concern will become palms-to-foreheads if Paul's next MRI goes afoul, but coach Vinny Del Negro was more concerned about slack defense on the perimeter and a general lack of legs on offense.

Paul missed his fourth game in the Clippers' past six. He did play Monday night at Golden State, but his knee bruise did not respond in time for this one.

And this one was not just 1/82nd of the grind.

Oklahoma City came in with a 32-9 record, the Clippers were 32-10, and San Antonio was 33-11. Obviously teams such as Denver and Memphis can be fearsome playoff opponents. But what the Clippers would prefer is to avoid the Spurs and the Thunder in the postseason. That will necessitate finishing first in the West.

The Clippers again planned to ride their bench, which leads the league in minutes (21.5 per game) and points (41.7). Oklahoma City's ranks 23rd in scoring.

Of course, the Thunder gets 52.5 points per game from Durant and Russell Westbrook. But NBA games, especially big ones, are often decided not by who has the great spurts but by who has the most solid minutes. With the Clippers, it often amounts to the same thing.

"Deep teams like them, you have to play all 48 minutes," said Oklahoma City's Nick Collison at Monday's shoot-around at Santa Monica High School.

He, like Lamar Odom and Jamal Crawford, knows what "starter's minutes" are like. As years go by and ligaments start to ache, he began to appreciate the temp's life.

"As long as you don't make a negative thing, coming off the bench is not that much different," he said. "There's advantages to it. You're doing the same things you did as a starter. You're normally playing against guys who aren't as talented, so when sometimes when you're trying to finish at the rim, you might be going against a reserve big man."

Against the Clippers, however, you get there and you're faced with Odom and Ronny Turiaf.

The Thunder then did as well off the bench as they could have hoped, thanks to an 11-point jolt in the second quarter by Kevin Martin that permanently reversed the flow. For the game, L.A. outscored OKC off the bench, 38-25, and Grant Hill had three big buckets in the fourth quarter. But Jamal Crawford had to shoot 18 times for his 14 points.

Beforehand, Oklahoma City coach (and former UC Irvine star) Scott Brooks was pretending to mock the concept of chemistry.

"I didn't like (Hakeem) Olajuwon at all," Brooks said. "He was a selfish guy in Houston. He never passed me the ball. But we still won a championship."

The Thunder players can make those jokes, too, because they've been together, basically, for 4 1/2 seasons.

"I know what Russell is upset at, I know what he can do better, we know where we each want the ball on the court," Durant said. "It's cool to play on the same court with one of your best friends. In this league chemistry is all about experience."

That closeness also brings the Thunder closer to their coach, who is plowing on despite the passing of his 73-year-old mother, Lee, who lives in Lathrop, in the San Joaquin Valley.

Last June at the NBA Finals, Brooks laughed as he remembered how her mother fired him. She worked at an auto parts plant, and Scott signed up to help during the summer. When he was late to work for the second time, he was gone.

Lee raised seven children. The father left when Scott was 2. When Lee heard young Scott lament that he couldn't do something, she sat him down and made him write, over and over, "There is no word called 'can't.' "

Which is how a 5-foot-10 guy plays 12 years in the NBA and now coaches the Western Conference champions.

"You need players, too," Brooks acknowledged, before Durant used the whole building for a speed bag.

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